0130hrs (AEDT) | Wednesday 28 December
It may not have been a race record run and it wasn’t a daylight finish, but the 2022 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race was a thriller from start to finish, with Andoo Comanche taking Line Honours, crossing the Castray Esplanade finish line in Hobart at 12:56.48am in the time of 1 day 11 hours 56 minutes 48 seconds.
Up until the final miles, it was still any of the four 100-footers’ race to take, although Andoo Comanche led for almost the entirety of a captivating race.
The John ‘Herman’ Winning Jr-skippered yacht becomes the first in the history of the race to take Line Honours under three different owners. And despite the hour, he and his 24-strong crew, including his father, John ‘Woody’ Winning, were the recipients of cheers from the huge crowd gathered at the dock and along the banks of the Derwent.
American Jim Clark and his Australian wife, Kristy Hinze Clark, the original owners of the yacht designed by Verdier Yacht Design and VPLP, launched Comanche in 2015 and took Line Honours in the Rolex Sydney Hobart that year.
The Clarks sold the boat to Jim Cooney and his wife Samantha Grant, who renamed the yacht LDV Comanche and took Line Honours and the race record of 1 day 9 hours 15 minutes 24 seconds in 2017, returning to the start as Comanche in 2019, to take Line Honours again.
Winning, whose father, John Winning is also aboard, was fortunate that the wind gods on the Derwent decided to provide a breeze, albeit light, to help them to the finish after they rounded Tasman Island at 2216 hours, (11.53pm) on Tuesday evening.
Also aboard are brothers Nathan and Peter Dean, who lost their father tragically in the 1998 race aboard Winston Churchill.
This was Nathan’s first Sydney Hobart and his younger brother Peter’s second – his first was with Herman in 2018 on Winning Appliances when they finished fourth overall.
Christian Beck’s LawConnect was the second boat across the line in a time of 1 day 12 hours 20 minutes 35 seconds. Both LawConnect and Andoo Comanche are flying protest flags.
The race started with drama when the four maxis converged at the first mark of the course and resulted in both Andoo Comanche and Hamilton Island Wild Oats taking penalty turns. At the time, Hamilton Island Wild Oats crew were heard on the live coverage discussing whether they would take the turn and elected to do so “just in case”.
A further news release will follow with quotes from Andoo Comanche in due course.
Di Pearson/RSHYR media
